Ferrari Nomenclature

Say hello to the newbe, and maybe give him a little education while your at it. I've searched the forum and have thus far been unable to find an answer to my question, which is as follows; What do the various numbers and letters mean when it comes to the different models made by Ferrari? I am especially interested in the older, pre-1980s models.

Thanks guys!

Shiny Side Up!
Bill

 

Welcome. Please be a little more specific. Why don't you give an example and we'll get you going on what they mean. Enjoy

 

Sometimes the number part of a model's name is the cylinder size in cc's. For example, the cars that start with 250 are 250 cc's per cylinder, times 12 cylinders, are 3,000 cc's (or 3 liters) in engine size. The 365 cars are 365 cc's * 12.

The 6-cylinder and 8-cylinder cars used a different numbering scheme. A 206 is a 2.0 liter engine with 6 cylinders. A 246 is a 2.4 liter engine with 6 cylinders. A 308 is 3.0 liter 8-cyl. A 328 is a 3.2 liter 8-cyl.

Hope this helps get you started.

 

F40 was used to mark the 40th anniversary of the company. The F50 came a few years too early.

 

Yes! This is exactly what I was looking for! I knew there had to be a meaning to the numbers, I just couldn't figure out what it was. I had guessed the 30 in 308 meant the engine size, but didn't get the last digit.

On the 12 cylinder cars, I couldn't make heads or tails of them. Especially since different cars had the same numbers.

Thanks!

Shiny Side Up!
Bill

 

The use of numbers in the Ferrari model names gets more complex than that.

For example, a 512 BB has a 5 liter engine and 12 cylinders.
And the 612 Scaglietti has an engine close to 6 liters (if you round up from 5.7 liters) and 12 cylinders.

The 288 GTO follows the pattern of a 2.8 liter engine with 8 cylinders.
And the 348 follows the same pattern of 3.4 liters with 8 cylinders.
But the F355 is a 3.5 liter engine with 5 valves per cylinder.

The 360 Modena has a 3.6 liter engine and the F430 has a 4.3 liter engine.
I don't know why they were not named the "368" and "438" models?

The 275 GTB/4 has a 3.3 liter engine (275 cc * 12) and the "/4" part refers to the 4 cams (dual overhead cams on each side of the V12 engine).

The 456 has a 5.5 liter 12 cyl (456 * 12).
This engine is shared with the 550 (that is, the 5.5 liter engine).
The 575M has a 5748 cc 12 cyl engine.
The 599 GTB Fiorano has an engine size of 5999 cc's.

There is even more than this to learn.